Rough Idle and Electrical Problems.. HELP!
 

OK so i bought this car a couple weeks ago its an 88 GXL, it needed a clutch, so i put a stage 3 race clutch (came with it) in and when i went to drive it.. after having to be jumped it starts and wont idle right it surges, idles rough, sound like it randomly misses and cuts out. After taking it down the road anything over 1/2 throttle cut out bad till it got a lil warmer then i went to run it up in the rpms :driving: and about 6 grand it lost power, tach cut out. also car keeps dieing everytime i try to stop it dies and has to be jumped even thoughs volts show 12volts.

Any ideas? this is driving me crazy :banghead:

Have you tried checking your AFM? TPS? CAS? Is it stock? A car that old people may have done all kinds of stuff to it, or there could be corrosion. I recomend the FSM and a bit of searching whether googling, or searching these forums or other rotary forums.

Maybe it sounds totally different, but it surges, idles rough, sounds like it randomly misses and cuts out... my car has a vacuum leak and it does what I call galloping whenever it's warmed up - but not the warm up cycle, I take it off of that - which I can imagine may be described as surging. It revs itself from anywhere between 600rpm-1100rpm, sometimes less as in 700-900rpm, while it does this, when it revs itself back down it sounds like its missing and cutting out, but that might my exhaust leak making that noise or maybe I can really hear it because of my exhaust leak. I don't know, I've never had an exhaust w/out a leak. Anyways, I was wondering if if is still stock, I took some emissions off of my car and we had to fiddle with the tps and the crank angle sensor just so my car will run, and that's without having my power steering hooked up, otherwise we may have had to have advanced the crank angle sensor a bit more.

it is stock, and i have cleaned the afm and it opens easy but havent been able to check it or the tps electrically, but what would cause the tach problem?

would fuel filter cause this? the inlet for fuel is pretty rusted who knows what inside looks like (previous owner didnt have a gas cap on it)

also i cleaned he intake and all piping cuz previous owner had everything coated with aiir filter oil.

Download an FSM if you havn't already and find yourself a working multimeter and go ahead and give that amf a test. The tach problem I'm really not sure of. The car dieing when you come to a stop reminds me of when my car would die when put into reverse, and though there were 12v, it just wasn't working. If you don't find any answers or anyone else can give you some useful info I'll get a hold of my ex and see what he found wrong with my electrical gremlins that was causing my car to die like yours.

I got a chance to chat with him. Don't want to misinterpret anything, so I just changed our names :P Here is the conversation.

Him: It was the main power wire for everything interior.There's a black connector about 3-5 inches from the main fuse box under the hood. I cut that connector out and soldered the bare wires together.
Me: it was just corrosion right?
Him: That's what caused it, but it was so bad that it was just going to keep happening...so I cut the connector out.
Me: okay. To test it, to see if that was it, did you just wiggle it a bit?
Him: Don't quote me on this, but I think the brakelights are on a different circuit..same as headlights...so his problem is different.
Him: yes I'm about 75% sure it's a different circuit...sorry. :-/:-/ Worth a shot to check it though.

Sounds like a dirty fuel issue to me, have you drained your tank and looked at the fuel, water or contaminates in the fuel will cause exactly what you describe, and if there was no gas cap on it then you could have water AND rust inside your tank, bad combo. I would drain all the fuel from the system into a clean container and inspect it closely, the water (if any) will sink to the bottom, whereas any rust or dirt will sort of float around near the top. If you do find rust you can get a new tank or a Kreem gas tank cleaner system, but I would reccomend a new tank, and possibly fuel rail (or you could pull the rail and completely dissassemble it then soak the metal peices in lacquer thinner).

ok new issues with car,(88 gxl) i fixed all previous issues including idle fluctuations and hesitations by cleaning fuel tank, new filer and plugs, adjusting tps and cleaning throttle body. i also gutted cats and ran a custom 2.5inch cat back, and wired open 6 ports.

Now here are the new issues;
Car has a crazy multiple random misfire at idle, and when u hold it at constant rpm with no load. flipped wires around kinda helped then started doing it all again. (i did the propane check to find leaks and noticed nothing, have pulled plugs they look fine, air filter looks fine, fuel filter has maybe 1500 miles on it, im just kinda lost)

Also at around 6k it feels like car loses all power, nose drops but rpm still try to climb.. so bad that in 2nd foot to floor it wont get to the buzzer.. here is my concern with this rpm still slowly try to climb but wont pull, during this trip i had a hot brake smell i was hard on brakes but not sure if it was clutch or not (xtd stage 3 clutch came with car i put it in and did the break in it has like 2k on it)

Did the car run better before the clutch job?

If so, did you forget to put back the main ground on the starter bolt?


-Ted

Car didnt run worth a F*ck before the clutch job (the clutch came with the car thats the reason i put in on in case anyone wants to say anything about possible clutch slippage cuz its an xtd)

AND actually i had to add grounds to the car to get it to run decent so i might hve left that ground cable off ill check that in the morning any other ideas on what it possibly could be...

xtd's suck
ground everything, CAS, AFM, TPS, both rotor housings, etc etc.
check the voltage at the components by backpining the connectors. My bet is there are a bunch of voltage fluctuations causing a ton of problems.
Make sure the coils are getting damn good power
make sure the fuel pressure is where it should be at all RPM's
XTD's suck

i know that XTD's suck(the pressure plates dont hold), im goin to drive it tomrrow without being hard on the brakes and see if it slips, if it does im buying a new clutch kit oem replacement and using the xtd 6 puck (if it looks good) and scuff the flywheel and use the new pressure plate, pilot bearing and throwout bearing.. ill check all voltages tomorrow and resistance too.. just trying to get ideas on what to check tomorrow

BTW thanks for the help

puck clutches have little business on a street car. Especially an N/A. There's just no need for that kind of holding power. They chew up flywheels, they can be a bitch to drive, I just don't see the point.

Im using the car for AutoX, Drift, as well as dd. im used to race cars and the positive engagement of the clutch and highly prefer that feel, and i want the holding power so that as i upgrade stuff and get more power the clutch will hold.

So I checked the ground at the starter and yes it was off so I hooked it up but prior to this I had already added extra ground straps, It seems that hot idle has gotten better but when I pull up to a stoplight it still dies or tries to die. And I lose all power at 6k and after driving hard today the clutch seems fine it feels more like in losing spark because as soon as I let off throttle it backfires like alot of fuel in exhaust.. I checked all sensors and all check out except the tps resistance is high but it is corroded so I'm gonna clean it and recheck it...

Ok so I just went for a drive in the car right after warmup 6k problem is non exsitant after a short drive problem finally occured, also with the firing at redlight whenever I hit the brakes my idle drops terribly so maybe bad booster? Causing rough idle and dieing?